The amount of perfect sarcasm alone made me love this book. I felt like I found people who completely spoke my language and was frequently laughing out loud. I got Nora on so many levels - she could have been me so often - and I had such a hard time putting the book down. Plus a book about books? Yes, please. Probably one of my favorite books of the year so far.

Really disliked both main characters. They were selfish, petulant and immature and Kate was really manipulative and petty. If you wanted a picture of a toxic relationship solely built on the physical but *sure* they loved each other, this is it.

The writing was often stiff and stilted, would go into mundane detail in some places but more often gappy elsewhere and the narrative had you feeling like you were just watching it happen rather than invited into the story. Also the dialogue for Margaret was completely bizarre for a toddler, even a spoiled brat of one.

There was very little highlighted about fascism in London with Mosley or the child refugees. I think that’s why I kept reading instead of stopping the book, hoping it would offer something new to learn. But it didn’t. If you’re looking for more on Mosley, look for books on the Mitford sisters and the Bright Young Things - one of the sisters married Mosley.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

While I enjoyed the completed, whole story itself, I greatly disliked the structure and style in which it got there. This really is 2.5 stars rounded up simply because I thought the story of the resilience and love the family and friends had for each other was commendable and interesting.

The Bennetts and those around them had a story filled with love, grief, forgiveness and determination. And that part I would have liked reading about, had it not felt like the book had ADHD, constantly bouncing between characters, timelines, and back again, unable to just let you get into the story and focus. Just when you think you are moving in a coherent line, able to really grasp the story and the characters, it starts darting all over again to either a different character or a different time, and such short snippets of it in a shot. It was so hard to focus and actually get a picture of what was going on, and was so frustrating. I almost left it, because I lost interest completely not even half way thru it. But again, the story line itself was the only thing keeping me, and needing to review the ARC. I would not have read it if I’d known how unfocused it was. It would have been a terrific story if it was more consistent and stopped the back and forth.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Liane Moriarty is one of my new favorite authors. I did not see the end coming on this one and I love that when a book goes that way. The friendship and empathy Jane, Madeline and Celeste had was my favorite part of the book. They didn’t judge each other, they stood up for each other, gave each other a place of belonging and they wanted the best for each other. Loved that.

Such a great story about redemption and friendship.
I love how, in all her books, the author takes multiple controversial and difficult topics of the time like racism and misogyny and takes a real human look at what it was like to live thru them as well as a redemptive side in the current time.

A great story centered around two people on either side of the French Revolution, who fall into unlikely friendship and love, as the violence and hatred of the revolutionists changes from seeking liberty to seeking vengeance and retribution. While they try to determine how to navigate their different political views and what they stand for, they find that love can lead them towards common ground because “doing what is right is more important than who is right.”

Ms Hawks paints a vivid and heart wrenching picture about the passion, brutality, violence, and fear of the time period in France, and also shows very important truths about figuring out what you believe and are built to do rather than blindly getting swept up in someone else’s opinions and passions. So much in that time period was so dark and full of hate, from a group of people that was oppressed too long and then fought back in such evil ways in the end, becoming no better than their oppressors.

The love and friendship between Gilles and Caroline was beautiful and self sacrificing, and I enjoyed the growth and determination in their characters, as well as their families. Ms Hawks did an excellent job and having you fully invested in each of the characters, hoping for the heroes to succeed, and for the villains to lose. Very well written.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for honest review.

By about halfway thru the book I quite literally lost the plot. It’s a coming of age book, but there’s very little that actually happens to keep it going. I just got so bored. It also had a sad and despairing feeling overall to it, with everyone constantly in a state of regret or unhappiness.

The writing style was really odd too. Part 2 (out of 3 and an Epilogue) was the only section with actual quoted dialogue. The rest had it woven into the paragraph italicized, as if it was a memory without any delineation of where one person’s speaking stopped and the next started. So strange.